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VMware advanced its cloud computing strategy this week with the release of VMware vCloud Datacenter services from partners and a free plug-in called vCloud Connector that gives customers the valued "single pane of glass" management view of public and private cloud services.

Like other big enterprise players, including HP, IBM and Oracle, VMware (NYSE: VMW) is touting its ability to help IT maintain traditional infrastructure, but also tap increasingly popular public cloud services as needed in a secure manner. VMware announced that its new vCloud Datacenter services are now available from BlueLock, Colt and Verizon.

"The enterprise hybrid cloud model is real and we're very excited about being able to help customers get started today," Joe Andrews, director of product marketing for vCloud Services at VMware," told InternetNews.com. "Research shows customers have valid concerns about the public cloud, but we're giving them a way to do that securely in a more flexible, agile way."

The vCloud Datacenter was announced in September, but this week is the official availability of service providers. VMware aims to be a big player in cloud services by leveraging its market-leading virtualization portfolio. Mathew Lodge, VMware's senior director of cloud services, said "Enterprise IT organizations have been stymied by an inability to get the required performance, security and application portability from commodity public clouds. With vCloud Datacenter Services and vCloud Connector, VMware and its partners provide an evolutionary path to an IT revolution for millions of existing datacenter applications."

Based on VMware's secure cloud infrastructure that includes VMware vSphere, VMware vCloud Director and VMware vShield, the VMware vCloud Datacenter Services are designed to provide consistent cloud infrastructure, management and security and let IT move computing workloads from internal virtualized infrastructure to any VMware vCloud Datacenter service and back.

Andrews said public cloud services offer speedy deployment of services that aren't always readily available from IT.

"Lines of business have been frustrated by the speed it takes to get services from central IT and the cost. So to scratch that itch they go to public cloud services," said Andrews.

But Andrews said problems inevitably arise when these kind of moves are made without IT approval or involvement. "If you're using the public cloud to test something and the project is a success, the next step is to throw it over the pen to IT and say 'Here you go.' "That's a hard thing for IT to suddenly take on," he said.

VMware's alliance with service providers is designed to offer enterprises the benefits of public cloud services when needed, such as a spike in holiday sales, in a way that's compatible with the company's existing infrastructure. "Customers have told us emphatically that this is the model they want, an enterprise hybrid model," said Andrews.

David Needle is the West Coast bureau chief at InternetNews.com, the news service of Internet.com, the network for technology professionals.

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